Returning to Exercise After Time Away
How to begin exercising again after a break due to illness, injury, or just life
By Tuesday Dunn-Blue
The holiday season brings many changes, one of which tends to be a return to- or start of- an exercise routine. Maybe a holiday vacation kicked you off your routine for a few weeks and you’re finding it hard to muster the motivation to hop back into it. Maybe it’s been years since you last truly had a focused exercise program, and your New Year’s Resolution is to focus on races or competitions, personal health and wellness, healthy aging, physique, or whatever your goal may be.
As with everything in life, there is an ebb and flow. We’re here to help you ease your way back into a routine whether it’s been one week, one month, one year, or more!
Read on for advice on how to overcome the hurdles that may be in your way, as well as Pongo Power trainers’ favorite tips on returning to exercise.
“Find an activity that is fun for you! If you dread your workout it won’t be a sustainable part of your routine. If you have a personal trainer, tell them what kind of activities you like to do. Movement should be fun!” - Kristen
The Obstacles
There are numerous roadblocks we all hit on our fitness journeys. While they may vary slightly from beginners to more advanced trainees, there is overlap in how they present themselves. To understand how to work around or with these roadblocks, let’s first sort through a short list of some of these concerns:
Anxiety
Injury
No Time/Too Busy
Where to Start?
What to Do?
Something Else
We’ll start with one that pops up quite frequently and ties in to other categories. Anxiety around going to the gym in person because of performance anxiety, fear of embarrassing oneself, or feeling unsure about how to use equipment is common. Thoughts like “What if I hurt myself because I make a mistake?” “What equipment do I use?” “Oh my, where to start with all of this?!” may echo in your head. It feels so daunting!
“What if I injure myself?” Maybe you have an old ankle sprain you’re worried about re-injuring; maybe you’ve never been injured and would like to keep it that way; maybe you have persistent muscle pain and are sure that an exercise program would exacerbate it. No matter the case, it’s a real concern!
Okay, let’s say you neither experience anxiety around working out nor have any injury concerns. What prevents you from a return to or new endeavor in fitness may be that you find yourself with no time to work out. You’re too busy between work, family obligations, education, having a social life, etc. There’s a lot going on every week in this fast-paced world! Finding 30-60 minutes three to four times per week sounds completely unachievable, so why even bother, right?
“I don’t even know where to start so I feel frozen in place at the starting line.” With the amount of information online, so many newfangled fitness products to try, “get fit quick” schemes, and the ever-growing research on health and wellness, it can feel like one has to do an absurd of homework before even stepping foot in a gym (or before rolling out your mat at home) in order to set oneself up for success.
Lastly, let’s say you have the time, you’re ready to start, you’re ready to work out from either home or in a gym-setting, and the last thing you need to know is: what to do. But seriously, what the heck should you be doing to optimize your training? The question of “where to start?” and “what do I do?” go hand in hand. What are the first things to come to mind when you think about a gym program? Something like cardio + strength + stretching with no specifics? Or do you go straight to specifics and think run + bench press + squat + can’t forget the abs?
Maybe none of these previously listed concerns are YOUR concern. Maybe it’s something else for you. There’s always something else that can throw a wrench in our plans. That’s totally normal! Regardless of what is occurring, be it a setback, a change in goals, a drastic life change necessitating space/time/recovery, the tips we’ll outline below to start or return to an exercise routine will be valuable for you as well.
Overcoming the Obstacles
Now that we’ve established there’s plenty of reasons that can prevent us from exercising consistently or provide hurdles to getting started, let’s discuss some ways to make it a manageable endeavor.
"Prioritize sleep! Lack of energy, focus and poor mood can all be direct results of inadequate sleep, and can negatively affect your motivation to implement a new routine. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night, as uninterrupted as possible. Be sure to get in a walk first thing, or simply get outside in the morning for direct sunlight on your eyes (not looking directly into the sun, of course). That early vitamin D will help set your circadian rhythm, helping you to wind down later that evening at an appropriate hour." - Ryan
What are some physical activities that you already enjoy? Do you like walking around town? Yoga? Soccer? This is a great place to start. Make time to perform an activity you already enjoy once a week to get started. You can increase the times you do these activities or add other workouts into your weekly routine to supplement your preferred activity as time goes on.
Give yourself 15-30 minutes to write down some of your goals. Do you want to sleep better? Run a 5k? Do 10 pushups consecutively?
Now that you have your list, decide which one of these is the one you’d like to focus on first. If you’re not sure what you’d like to focus on first, just think about which one you care most about compared to the other options in the list and go with that one. Let’s say it’s the 5K goal. Break it down into what you can currently do, which is maybe walking 5 minutes, running/jogging 1 minute, and repeat until you hit 30 minutes.
Do this at least once a week. Increase your run/jog time and decrease your walk time as you continue to work on this goal. As this goal becomes more manageable, add another day or two and/or supplemental workouts during the week like strength training.v
Another great option is to find a personal trainer (hey, that’s what we’re here for!). We can help you figure out your health and fitness goals and then create a program around that which works with your lifestyle and schedule. Nothing makes us happier than helping you achieve your goals. (Okay, maybe that slice of cheesecake— but that’s a short-lived joy; once it’s gone, that’s it!) Achieving your goals is a long-term pursuit and we love to see our clients’ progress!
“Get assessed and go easy! Whether you’re an exercise-newcomer or an exercise-returner, assess your current fitness capacity. This will be your starting point. While you may want to jump in with full force, reign it in a bit (or a lot) so that you create a sustainable lifelong habit and stay injury free.” - Karin
There are plenty of reasons why we hesitate to start or return to a program. You can help yourself by 1) making incremental adds— don’t dive into everything all at once as it may result in injury or cause burnout and 2) making sure to find time for an activity you enjoy. If you hate weightlifting, don’t force yourself to do that four times per week when you can do it twice a week and, say, rock climb twice a week. There’s a balance to be had that includes your goals, your interests, and your lifestyle— and it is possible to achieve!
